Resurfacing puts Monterey in the fast lane

Dan DeVoy of Athletic Field Services sprays lane lines in metal latex on the track at Monterey Stadium in Janesville. The track was last resurfaced at least seven years ago.

What it is: Athletic Field Services of North Prairie repaired and resurfaced the running track at Monterey Stadium in Janesville last week at a cost of $71,500.

The work was more expensive than a simple resurfacing because two sections of the track had to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Those sections, on the north and south sides, were removed. New fill was trucked in and compacted before the track was rebuilt, said Dave Leeder, district maintenance supervisor.

Leeder said the ground under those two sections had sunk, cracking the asphalt under the rubber surface and raising the danger of ankle or knee injuries for runners.

The stadium is in a low-lying area along the river that had subsidence problems years ago, but Leeder suspects a different origin.

Leeder said workers had to bore under the track during "The Full Monty," the privately funded project to build new locker rooms and re-crown the football field at the stadium about 10 years ago. That disturbance might have led to a gradual sinking at those spots.

Athletic Field Services workers also resurfaced the entire track and repainted the lanes last week.

The surface is Seal-Flex, a mix that includes ground-up car tires and latex, said Dan Devoy, foreman for the AFS crew. The original surface consisted of six layers of Seal-Flex. Resurfacings take two layers.

AFS says on its website that tracks should be resurfaced every seven to 10 years, depending on the amount of use, care and general maintenance, and Leeder said it was about seven to 10 years ago that the track was last resurfaced.

Craig and Parker high schools both use the track for competitions. Monterey Stadium also is the site of the annual, citywide, fourth- and fifth-grade track meets.

Officials did not know exactly when the track was converted from cinders to a rubberized surface. Leeder said the springy surface was already there when he was hired in 1999.